Rehabilitation: 100 flood-affected families get model village houses

Village provided with biogas power plant, technical training institute and primary education and healthcare facilities

RAHIM YAR KHAN:

“My three children have resumed studies after two years after we moved in the home allotted to me in the model village in early April, Khumaisa Bibi told The Express Tribune on Sunday.

She was speaking at a ceremony where ownership deeds of houses in a model village established in Chak NP-48 in Rahim Yar Khan were distributed among 100 flood-affected families.  Khumaisa Bibi said she and her three children had been living in a tent near the site of the model village since the floods. “My husband died a couple of months after our house was swept away in the flood in 2010,” she said. She said she had since been earning a living for her family by working as domestic help.

Allah Bakhsh, who has moved in with his wife and two children this month, said his name was shortlisted for allotment of a house after a survey conducted by the district administration last year.

The village contains a primary school, a health centre, a veterinary care centre and a technical training institute, a biogas power generation plant and a playground. The education and healthcare facilities became operational in the beginning of April.

Dr Amjad Akhlaq, in charge of the veterinary care centre, said the doctors at the centre were directed to ensure regular contact with cattle farmers in the village. He said they were told to arrange meetings to discuss farmers’ problems and to educate them about precautions against animal diseases.

Muhammad Afzal, a cattle farmer, said he was particularly delighted about the establishment of the veterinary centre. He said he hoped that it would be equipped with all facilities. “Mostly, there were no medicines at the centre in the village before floods,” he added.

Jaam Amanullah, 22, one of the seven people selected for the first batch at the technical training institute, said the institute offered mechanical and electrical engineering diploma courses but so far they were only taught basic concepts.

Earlier, DCO Ahmed Javed Qazi distributed ownership deeds among the 100 families.

The DCO said the village was ‘a gift from the provincial government’ to the flood-affected families of the area. He said the village was equipped with most facilities required for it to be a self-sufficient community. The technical training institute was especially included so that people with insufficient means could be taught marketable skills.

Chak 48 NP is the fourth model village in Rahim Yar Khan. Model villages were earlier set up in Laal Shah in Liaqatpur, in Chak NP-56 and Bahadipur Qureshian.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2012.